story by Emma Willibey, photos by Bridget Jones

Gibson guitars and paintings of jazz musicians like Robert Johnson cram a shop across the River Market courtyard. Free from tags, items suspend confidently from the walls. Notecards boasting an array of names stretch across the store, indicating each instrument’s seller.

“[People] think, ‘Oh, it’s a music store,’ but it’s really so much more,” membership manager Jerod Rivers said. “I liken it to more, ‘We put instruments in our office.’”

Music and dance organization Folk Alliance International (FAI) relocated to Kansas City from Memphis, Tenn. last August. Executive director and South by Southwest Music Festival co-founder Louis Meyers said FAI’s headquarters doubles as the Folk Store, which hosts monthly workshops in areas like bluegrass and ukulele.

[nggallery id=744]

“[FAI] wanted a way to have direct interaction with the local community,” Meyers said. “We could have rented an office in the third floor of some nondescript building, but we wouldn’t have known anybody.”

A former record-label manager, Meyers said he has followed Kansas City music about 25 years. While Meyers said FAI appreciated Kansas City’s folk-inclined radio stations like 90.9 “The Bridge” FM, practical matters influenced the organization’s move.

“[Kansas City] fit the criteria that we had set out,” Meyers said. “All the obvious things: middle of the country, accessibility. There was nobody here really doing what [FAI does].”

The primary function of FAI’s location is hosting the group’s annual conference, which occurred at the Westin Crown Center Feb. 19-23. Apart from uniting artists and agents, the event acquainted guests with Kansas City’s musical lineage, according to panel coordinator and fiddler Betse Ellis.

“We have some cool programs—or panels, rather—that relate to Kansas City specifically,” Ellis said, citing DJ Chuck Haddix’s presentation on jazz musician Charlie “Bird” Parker. “It’s a great opportunity to show people what [the city is] all about.”

In addition to educating travelers, FAI desires to awaken Kansas Citians to the community. According to Rivers, the Folk Store’s Missouri Arts Council-sponsored sessions invite all levels of musicians to jam alongside groups like the Kansas City Ukesters.

“Even though [the music] might be hundreds of years old, it’s all about teaching and passing onto the next generation,” Rivers said.

According to Meyers, FAI prioritizes youth interest. Meyers said when he joined FAI in 1999, its audience recalled the middle-aged folkies in 2003 satire “A Mighty Wind.”

“My first thought [about FAI was], ‘Wow, there’s lots of old people,’” Meyers said. “[But] I don’t think there is a stereotypical folk audience at this point in time.”

According to Meyers, after the 1960s folk renaissance that spawned songwriters like Bob Dylan, bands like the Byrds melded the genre into pop. Now, artists like Mumford & Sons have restored folk through traditional instruments while attracting adolescents with bombastic sing-alongs. According to Meyers, the revival has provided FAI a sturdy following and increased banjo sales.

“We need the [age] trickle-down,” Meyers said. “We need the instrument makers to have somebody to sell to.”

At the Folk Store, tag-free instruments allow customers to pluck items from the walls. Since the store’s consignment approach ensures each instrument is unique, people can spend hours examining the models. As customers peruse the rows one Saturday, their infrequent conversations suggest talking is unnecessary to the comfortable environment.

“[The Folk Store is] like church,” Rivers said. “You’ve got the members who come every week, but they bring their friends, they bring their family and they expand the community.”